A storage system has a large number of storage drives (e.g., HDDs: Hard Disk Drives) in which a lot of information is stored and is accessed from a lot of host computers via a network. Hence, the reliability of a storage system to allow the system to continue to operate in case a fault should occur in the storage system is important. Additionally, security to prevent information leakage is also important.
As regards the reliability of a storage system, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technical approach in which, upon detecting a fault occurring, a faulty portion in connection paths is located and a configuration of connections of a switching device is changed to bypass the faulty portion. Also, as regards security of information, it is commonly used to encrypt information to be stored.